Tag: future

The ecological and innovative future of packaging and packaging – Italian Cuisine

From the technological and recyclable boxes of The Box to the new natural and biodegradable frontiers of food packaging: let's take a look at the possible packaging of the future

In a period in which the issue of home delivery and online shopping is on the agenda and of vital importance, it may be interesting to take a look at the possible future scenario regarding packaging and food packaging. While due to recent changes, the focus is mainly on deliveries of local products, food & beverage and basic necessities, the world continues to study increasingly practical, innovative, ecological and biodegradable solutions for cartons and packaging of various type. In the global perspective of reduce air pollution and the use of plastic, let's find out what's new in the present and the future, both on the shipping front and on that of the storage and packaging of food products.

The box: the eco-box that lasts 1000 shipments

From an idea of French startup Living Packets a new one was born ecological and technological box designed primarily as packaging of the future for e-commerce sites and giants such as Amazon or Ebay. This product, simply called The Box, not only can be used over a thousand times, but it is made almost exclusively with recycled materials, including special belts that protect the contents and which would replace the classic shock-absorbing and polluting packaging. The box is then equipped with technological equipment equipped with sensors, realtime tracking, GPS system and connectivity, which thanks to the connection to an app not only allows you to monitor the shipment, but also to reset its parameters if you wish to reuse it. Finally, it is also equipped with sensors that allow you to evaluate whether the conditions of transport are adequate, and a mini video camera that will determine if the package was opened before the recipient received it. Available in two formats, 1 liter and 25 liters, the revolutionary ecological and resistant box is expected to enter the market by the end of 2020, and the expected cost of its shipment is only 2 euros.
In short, if the giants of the global shipping market were to adopt a similar system, it could be significantly limit the environmental impact. All that remains is to wait and see.

Plastic-free packaging: towards a greener future

The question arises spontaneously, but if the contents of futuristic and recyclable packaging for shipments in Italy and in the world were to be foodstuffs, how can we be sure that these too will not impact the environment? In this sense, in recent years, the food packaging has made great strides and many are the food brands, both Italian and foreign, that have introduced ecological and plastic-free packaging. These include frozen foods sold in cellulose or bioplastic packs, drinks in bottles or biodegradable or Tetrapak cans or already washed salads packed in natural and compostable bags. In Italy, the response to food with ecological packaging has been positive, so much so that in 2019 there was an increase in turnover of 24.5%.

In the last year, in addition to these great steps forward by companies and consumers in the food packaging sector, we have witnessed important changes also on the front of wrappers, bags and ecological food films as alternatives to plastic, with new proposals developed by companies and start-ups from all over the world. In 2019, for example, the American start-up Apeelsciences launched a new revolutionary spray coating which is able to better preserve food and which is already recording excellent sales in the USA and in some European countries.
In Indonesia the start-up Evoware stood out for the creation of packaging made with algae, from films for hamburgers, to sachets for instant coffee up to flavored edible containers.
A Swedish design studio called Tomorrow Machine worked on a beautiful and biodegradable food packaging line, nicknamed This Too Shall Pass, which includes algae bags to freeze liquids from the same duration of its contents, packages made with colored beeswax to store rice and pasta and oil bottles made with caramelized sugar and wax which open like an egg, then suitable for compost.

In short, now that the unwanted consequences of plastic are becoming more visible, we cannot but hope that more and more food companies, start-ups and consumers will join forces to adopt low environmental impact shipping and packaging solutions.

Photo: ecological food packaging, Baamboozle.jpg

the soup for the future of chef Antonio Scarantino – Italian Cuisine

At the Al Mare restaurant in Fano the brodetto combines with the future: Brodetterò is the proposal of chef Scarantino, who does not forget the tradition. This is the recipe

TO Fano, as along the entire coast of the Marche, the broth it's a part of history. The fishermen prepared it, with those fish considered too poor to be sold on the market, too small or ruined by nets. Oil, onion, tomato paste, a drop of vinegar, stale bread to accompany and lunch was served. A tradition so deeply rooted that today the town celebrates its specialty with a festival, the Brodettofest, scheduled from April 30 to May 3. So much so that the refined Al Mare restaurant it offers a decidedly interesting gourmet version: the tradition of broth aimed at the future. Brodetterò is the name of the dish of chef Antonio Scarantino. And this is the recipe.

Brodetterò: the broth by chef Antonio Scarantino

Ingredients for 4 people

2 kg of clean fish: mallets (gallinelle di mare), anglerfish, dogfish, shoulder bag, breed, boccaincava (priest fish), San Pietro fish, shrimp, cuttlefish, scorpion fish)
2.5 dl of extra virgin olive oil
6 spoons of wine vinegar
2 glasses of water
1 tube of tomato paste
1/4 onion
1 clove of garlic
Slices of bread to accompany
freshly ground pepper
salt

Method

Arrange the fish, already cleaned, on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, season with salt and oil, cover them with oven paper and cook them in the preheated oven at 180 ° C for about ten minutes. In this way each fish maintains its consistency and flavor. For the sauce: in a low and wide saucepan (about 40 cm in diameter) fry the chopped onion and garlic in extra virgin olive oil. Dilute the tomato paste in water and vinegar and add it to the sauté. Serve the fish with the sauce aside, accompanied with toasted bread: each guest can choose which ingredient to taste first or how much sauce to pour on the plate.

China: a healthy future based on vegetable proteins – Italian Cuisine

To combat obesity, China aims to reduce meat consumption by promoting new alternative, healthy and vegetable foods, to be integrated into the diet by 2030

When we talk about obesity in the world, our thoughts go immediately to the United States and the American people, notoriously dominated by a diet rich in fat and junk food that is not very balanced. No coincidence that it is the country with the most obese adults in the world, as many as 79 million. Few know, however, that on the front ofchildhood obesity America actually wins second place while the former goes unexpectedly China, a country that in the Western imagination is often associated with a light and low calorie diet. Consider that instead the obese Chinese children are 15 million and that by 2015, the estimated obese adults were 57 million.
The Chinese government has recently decided to take serious measures regarding the food sector to stem this worrying growth, and not only that. In particular, in collaboration with China's first food technology accelerator Bits x Bites, which is investing in various international startups, has issued dietary guidelines that aim to reduce national meat consumption by 50% by 2030 and the introduction of innovative, sustainable and healthy food alternatives. The trigger of this initiative is not really only childhood obesity, but also all the problems concerning the Chinese meat industry.
In addition to the problems of food security (animal diseases) and health problems (antibiotics and hormones) linked to the industrial production of meat, there are fears that there are not enough arable land to feed the growing population or enough land to house the farms.
Let's go then to find out what the alternative protein sources will be for a healthier future.

Alternatives to soy

Although soy milk, in China as in other countries, is one of the most famous and popular vegetable drinks, in the last few years interesting alternatives are taking hold. Among the many China has decided to invest in pea milk, already widespread and appreciated in the United States, the mung bean one and the chickpea one.

Silkworm snacks

For years we have been talking about the importance of insects as a precious source of protein and with a low environmental impact as an alternative to meat. In China, an insect-loving country known forbreeding of silkworms (about 500 thousand tons a year), the government has decided to invest in a company that turns flour silkworm scraps into powder into flour, to then process this flour and produce salty snacks. This snacks, which will contain about 20% of proteins, will soon be launched on the market and already bets on its commercial success.

Synthetic meat, produced in the laboratory

The synthetic meat produced by in vitro cultivation from animal cells has become a worldwide trend, above all thanks to Beyond Meat, the American company of the famous Impossible Burger. China has decided to follow in its footsteps and invest in an Israeli company called Future Meat Technologies that produces precisely meat grown in the laboratory, non-GMO, naturally free of hormones and antibiotics and produced using a fermentation silo. The goal is to see a food product based on cellular meat to be launched on the market as soon as possible.

A bowl of a salad bowl to drink

A final investment concerns a company called Fruggie, which intends to promote a new concept of "drinkable" salad. The reason behind the development of this product, which for us Westerners may appear to be bizarre, is that the Chinese mostly love hot and cooked foods, while they are rather reluctant to eat raw vegetables and, indeed, salads. The company has therefore decided to mix together ten classic ingredients, including lettuce, avocado and chickpeas, reducing them to drink. This drink is currently only available in some parts of China.

Photo: synthetic china meat diet sana_Wikipedia_World Economic Forum.png
Photo: alternative soy milk peas in Cina_Pixabay_falovelykids.jpg
Photo: silkworm silkworms vegetable proteins cina_Pixabay.jpg